Punishment for Rukawa Kaede
by Belle Aixiah
Summary: 5 seconds is all it takes to turn one Rukawa Kaede's life upside down. No yaoi


**Disclaimer: **Slam Dunk and all its characters mentioned in this story belongs to Inoue Takehiko sensei.

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><p><strong>Part 1:<strong>

Rukawa shifts his vision to outside of the classroom. He wonders why it is so hard to fall asleep today. He who usually dozes off in less than 3 idle seconds is now wide awake staring into nothingness. The weather is gloomy, it is raining heavily and he just remembers he doesn't bring umbrella. Rukawa wishes the rain would stop once he finishes the basketball training.

He is now in a foul mood. Not only he is unable to get those not so little time of his precious sleeps today, the rain is also fail to cease and he need to get home as soon as possible. "I already wasted a huge chunk of my sleep time today" is what Rukawa currently thinking.

There're several band-aids spotted on the handsome Ice Prince's face courtesy to one idiot redhead self-proclaimed Tensai, Sakuragi Hanamichi whom mission today seems to be "_let's annoy the already annoyed Rukawa Kaede_". Sakuragi loud braggy remarks thrown his way during practice did not settle nicely in Rukawa's head. Whatever the redhead did just annoyed Rukawa, his signature laugh "Nyahahaha", his off-tune song "Ore wa tensai", his "Teme kitsune!" and even his "Haruko-san~~" seems to make the Ice Prince boil in rage. This must be the effect of his sleep deprivation_._

Instead of one line _do'aho_ he usually throws at the other boy, one orange ball flew to the redhead direction. Sakuragi who did not see that coming was then sprawling on the floor, a lump was clearly seen on his head. A smile threatened to decorate Rukawa's face but he suppressed it back down. _Rukawa Kaede never smiles, not in front of this idiot at least. _Sakuragi's hand was twitching and he sprang up in front of Rukawa. "RU...KA...WA!" _1, 2, 3 and a_ll hell breaks loose. Who knows how many balls were flying around, or how many punches being thrown or kicks that landed nicely at two bodies but at the end of everything, everyone knows that the two received one head bump each delivered by none other than the feared captain of Shohoku's basketball team, Akagi. Everyone but the two, sigh in relief.

Walking to his bike, Rukawa dare the day to be worse than how it already is. He waited about half an hour later for the rain to completely stop. The sky is dark and all he wishes now is to be ceremoniously united with his lovely bed. He walks slowly towards his house that is located not far away from the school while at the same time his brain is actively plotting a certain do'aho's death.

_Poisoning his pocari seems to be the best._

Now his mood is getting lighter. He stops in the middle of the road when a "meow" comes into his ears. There at the side of the road stood a cute little black cat with bright brown eyes. Cute is what he thought at first, five seconds staring into the cat's eyes, he got goosebumps all over his neck.

_What the hell._

He lifts his stare from the cat and continues his short journey leaving that said cat behind without risking another glance. He has a very bad feeling about this. He shoves away all unnecessary thought of supernatural entities that crawl into his mind and hastily resumes his walking home with double the pace he sets earlier. He breathes a sigh of relief when the cat does not follow him home. Rukawa though face usually grace with no expression or emotion is actually scared of that kind of thing. Nobody except his parent knows that fact, and he wants to keep it like that.

After taking a long warm bath, he drifted to long overdue sleep with the thought of "_today is a really tiring day". _The last thing comes into his mind before he completely dozes off is a set of bright brown eyes glaring daggers his way and then everything goes black.

"Kaede, Kaede wake up". "Kaede, wake up".

Rukawa wakes up with a start. There in front of him is a huge fluffy pillow. He wonders why a pillow feels the need to wake him up from his precious sleep.

_Wait, pillow can't possibly wake me up, it shouldn't even move. Am I dreaming?_

"Kaede, are you having a nightmare? You were screaming in your sleep and look at you, sweating like there's no tomorrow ".

"Mom?" His mother, Rukawa Kaori peeks her small beautiful head behind that supposedly talking pillow.

"Why are you hugging that pillow?"

"For protection, from you know, that nasty habit of yours that your father said I quote 'waking up rage fit'"

"Mom, I do not do that anymore. At least not here, in this house"

_Well, I do love to hit all those stupid bastards at school and blame it on my 'waking up rage fit'. Makes my life a lot easier._

"So, what were you dreaming just now screaming like that? Boogeyman? Or the monster inside your closet" Rukawa's mother asked with a clear hint of amusement and slight mockery.

"It's nothing. Now can you leave so I can resume my sleep, it's only 3:00 in the morning"

"You sure you're okay?"

"Yes mom"

"Okay then, good night sweety, if anything, you can just screaming for help, mom and dad will come to your rescue". Kaori smiles and wink to Rukawa while dragging along that big 'pillow of protection' of hers out of his room. Rukawa is fighting the urge to roll his eyes at his mother.

Now he is thinking about his dream or should he said nightmare? It was actually the strangest thing that ever happened to his young boring life.

_*** Flashback: Dream ***_

Rukawa opens his eyes to see darkness surrounded him. He is swaying left to right to left again. _What?_ _Where is this and why am I here?_ He looks down and realizes he's on a wooden bridge, a fragile looking bridge at that. It's as if, if he takes another step, the bridge will collapse. He can't see farther than the bridge itself. Wait, now that he thinks about it, he can see nothing but the bridge and himself. Did they glow?

"Meoww". Rukawa looks at the source of the sound. There at the end of the bridge is the same cat this evening walking towards his direction. His goosebumps is coming up again. All his senses telling him to run away because this cat doesn't seem like good news. But luck is not on his side today, he can't move a muscle. He is rooted at his spot, eyes wide open, and face usually stoic, full of emotion named fear. The cat suddenly changes shape. The sound it makes while transforming is not one Rukawa wants to hear EVER again. He is shivering. The cat, no, the gothic girl is now a few steps away from Rukawa. She wears all black, has bright brown eyes that seems to bore right into one's soul. Her eyes gives a vibe that saying "I can read your mind".

"Rukawa Kaede"

"Eeeepp". Rukawa shrieked. Her voice is cold and down right eerie and lets not forgets the fact she knows his name. Rukawa muttered the most intelligent answer he can think of right now. "Yes?" His voice cracked and he is not proud.

"You commit a grave sin when you dare to stare at me, Lola, the Goddess of all black magic."

Rukawa's mind can't register what the girl is saying. He heard her the first time but somehow he doesn't understand a single thing. It is as if the girl is speaking an alien language. His mind is now a mess. He still can't get over the shock that a cat transforming into a girl wearing all black like she is ready to attend a funeral.

"Pardon me?"

Lola looks at him with a look of distaste. She doesn't seem to be one who loves repeating herself. "You commit a grave sin when you dare to stare at me, Lola, the Goddess of all black magic." She pronounced the word one by one, very clearly with a tone of authority.

Rukawa is slowly digesting the words spoken from that cat-gothic-girl. He mumbles "Goddess, magic, stare, grave sin". And realization hits him.

_What? Goddess of what? Stare? Is she talking about the 5 seconds staring I gave the cat this evening? How come staring at a cat considered as a grave sin. To think that I thought this little thing as cute at first, huh, I'll be damned! This is no goddess, she's a witch, that is if she is real by the way. I bet this is all just a nightmare._

"Goddess!"

"What?"

"Goddess. I am not a witch, mind your language, and this…" Lola gesturing her hands to no particular direction all around her "…is not a nightmare"

Oh great, she really can read mind all right. Rukawa clears his throat.

"Lola-san or magic goddess or whatever it is you are, do you mind telling me why exactly am I here? What do you want from me?"

"To sentence you for your sin!" Lola said while smiling.

_She's enjoying this! _Rukawa couldn't keep his cool. "What? But what have I done? If the staring is my sin, how do you suppose I know that you are a goddess of whatever it is you claimed? You showed up as a cat, a f*cking cat, and you 'meowed' at me. It is only natural that I look at your direction. I don't see anything wrong with that"

**This, must we a world record of the most words ever come out from Rukawa Kaede in one breath**

"A sin is still a sin and nothing can change that fact. But, as I am a really kind hearted goddess, I shall grant you a chance."

'_You can just go away if you are that kind hearted, get out of my dream or better, erase my memory from the beginning of this day till I wake up tomorrow morning'_ Rukawa pondered this in his mind.

Lola cleared her throat, ignoring Rukawa's thought that can be heard loud and clear in her head. "I heard your thought, of killing your teammate, Sakuragi Hanamichi by poisoning his pocari"

Rukawa is face palming at this, literally. He says, "That is just a thought. There is no way in hell I'm gonna do that for real. I still have a future and I am very certain that spending my life rotten in jail due to killing one idiot redhead Sakuragi Hanamichi is not a part of it."

"But you do hate that teammate of yours. Here is your chance, you have to be civil with him in **three days from now**. I'll be watching over your progress. Not only you, but also Sakuragi Hanamichi must lose all his hatred he held towards you. You have to think a way of making him befriending you"

"And if I don't do that?" Rukawa has the gut to be asking that. He already feel his rage boiling from the pit of his stomach. He is so angry and furious at the mention of Sakuragi's name and at the impossible demand. The moment he open his mouth next, he is afraid a blue fire might comes out of it. Civil with that do'aho? _Tch!_ That's the funniest sentence he ever heard.

"You'll be joining me, as my servant, looking like a cat with icy blue eyes, for the rest of your life"

Rukawa freezes. _Living as a cat is not an option for my future either._

Lola then walks away from the dumbfounded Rukawa into the darkness and laugh evilly, creepily.

Rukawa is still staring at the direction Lola disappeared. '_This is not happening to me. This is just a dream. Yeah. A dream. A bad, nasty dream. None of this is real'_ is what Rukawa have in mind at the moment.

"This is not a dream Rukawa Kaede, nor it is a nightmare. You know all of this is true" Lola's voice is echoing around him.

"I'll be watching over you"

…

…

…

Crack…

"What is that?" Rukawa thought he heard something.

Crack… Crack…

He hears them clear. The cracking sound is now louder and louder. "No, no, no, no, no. The bridge!" he screams. "If I'm gonna die now, let me kill that Sakuragi first! This is all his fault, I'm not going down aloneee!"

In a blink of an eye, the bridge collapse, Rukawa is now falling deeper and deeper and deeper into the darkness. He frantically screaming, hands trying so hard to grab at anything yet nothing there he can grab. He braced himself for the hard fall that would follow any second from now but nothing of that sort happened.

Thud.

He landed. He's still alive. He sigh in relief. What is this fluffy thing he landed on, where does this coming from?

'Kaede, Kaede wake up'

'Kaede, wake up'

He hears someone calling his name from afar. He opens his eyes and first thing come to his vision is a huge fluffy pillow?

_*** End Flashback:dream ***_

A/N: So how was that? I am not an english native speaker and this is my first story ever. Please forgive all the grammar mistakes and flames is welcomed if it is not too hot. ^^ The overall plot is mine, but the naming and the black cat turn human, I think I read that somewhere before, so no, that plot is not mine. Credit to whoever I read that before.


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